Radiation Safety for the SLP

SLPs who perform videofluoroscopic swallowing studies (VFSS) must protect themselves from radiation exposure. Excessive exposure to radiation has been linked to harmful health effects, including cancer and birth defects. SLPs need to educate themselves about the risks of radiation exposure, as well as precautions to reduce exposure. Unfortunately, many SLPs do not receive appropriate training about their own risks and how to minimize them, as well as how to minimize risks to their patients. This page contains links to important resources and articles about radiation principles and radiation safety.

Joint Commission

The list of sentinel events subject to review by
Joint Commission has been expanded to include radiation overdose, which is defined as "prolonged fluoroscopy with a cumulative dose of more than 1500 rads to a single field or any delivery of radiotherapy to the wrong body region or more than 25 percent above the planned radiotherapy dose." A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof.

ASHA Corporate Partners

About Us

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 198,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students.